Charlotte Transit

Mecklenburg County Commissioners gathered in uptown today to approve the wording of a 1-cent sales tax referendum for this year’s municipal ballot.

A bill that would give Mecklenburg County voters the chance to raise the local sales tax by one percentage point won final approval in the General Assembly today, passing the House 102-4. The bill now heads to Gov. Josh Stein’s desk. If voters in Mecklenburg approve the higher sales tax in November, it would fund billions in road improvements and new transit lines.

The Metropolitan Transit Commission voted to adopt the updated Transit System Plan Wednesday night.

Internal polls and surveys conducted by Charlotte Area Transit System show strong majorities have favorable impressions of transit — but that there’s room for improvement, too.

Matthews is hoping to bring the Silver Line light-rail line to the town.

Millions in road money helps shore up support for expanded rail and bus lines; towns could repave and extend streets, build sidewalks, install streetlights — and boost spending on "parks, public safety, you name it" — in Mecklenburg County towns.

The Charlotte City Council on Monday voted 10-1 to buy freight rail tracks from Norfolk Southern. It also voted to ask state lawmakers for permission to place a 1-cent sales tax increase on the November 2025 ballot.

A new Mecklenburg County sales tax to fund city and county rails, roads and buses is up for a city council vote Tuesday night. But while the Charlotte Area Transit System's budget has reached a record high, ridership remains far below pre-pandemic levels. Still, some believe the city needs to continue investing in buses to bring commuters back to public transit.

Because the city of Charlotte expects to have half as much new tax money for trains from a proposed one-cent sales tax, it told town managers this spring that it can’t afford to build the $6 billion Silver Line light rail from uptown to Matthews. The city said it would build bus rapid transit instead.

On this week's Transit Time, we answered frequently asked questions about Charlotte's revised transit plan, including what is it, what it would do, how much it would cost and what happens from here.